Did you have a minor in college?

[MyThreeSons]

I've been reading another thread about a student being told at the last minute he can't graduate because he doesn't have the required courses for a second minor. (As I understand it, his program requires a double major or major and two minors.) No one ever mentioned a minor to me when I was in college. My major was Mechanical Engineering, and I had all I could handle meeting the requirements for that. Now, I did have to choose a concentration within ME, but that's not the same thing as a minor, because it's not a totally different subject.

 

So, how common is it to require a minor? Maybe it's something that non-Engineering folks have to do?

[Melinda in VT]

My impression was that most of my roommates had a minor. I didn't, because I wanted to graduate in four years (when the scholarship ran out) and I wanted to get both University Honors and Honors in my degree. I couldn't see a way to do both of those and get a minor without losing all of my sanity. ;-)

 

So, minors were common but not required.

[regentrude]

At our university, I have never heard of a minor being required in a normal course of study. I have, however, had many students who earned one or more minors in addition to their majors. For example, for a physics or comp sci major, a math minor is comparatively easy to achieve and a logical combination.

 

One student I had at advising had double majors in physics and math, and minors in French and chemistry... and he wants to go to med school.

[FaithManor]

I think, way back in the day, a minor was common though I can't remember if it was required.

 

I minored in French. My majors were piano performance, instrumental education, and philosophy. Since only so many credits in any one major or concentration could count towards graduation, I had nearly 150 credits at graduation because I pretty much took everything the music department offered by way of coursework and performance groups! Glutton for punishment as my father always said!

 

I think there are some majors these days that would be pretty heady if a minor is a requirement. Kids really need to keep track of this stuff when they apply to college. They need to understand exactly what is required of them before they reply to an acceptance letter.

 

Faith

[KungFuPanda]

Nope, not required. I finished in three years. Had I stayed for four I could see having time for a minor, but I was a non-traditional student so college itself was an easy adjustment for me after the military.

[Word Nerd]

At my university, they didn't start offering a minor program until my last year there. I would have had enough credits to have a minor, but the new program was made available only to freshmen or new transfers. It probably would have been a logistical nightmare to implement it retroactively for existing students, but it's still kind of annoying. They did dual majors before that, though.

[Orthodox6]

The university from which I was graduated did not have/allow minors.

[JeanM]

At my university if you had a minor in a different area than your major, then you didn't have to take certain distribution requirements. I majored in biology and minored in music, so the only other required courses I had were foreign language courses. Technically I also had a chemistry minor, but I did not manage to get it approved by the university because I took one class at another (Ivy League) university in the summer.

[Farrar]

Oh, weird. It was required for me. I had self-designed a world literature one, but the approval disappeared so at the last minute, I put together courses and had it approved as an Asian studies minor.

[gardenmom5]

2dd chose to minor, it was not required. she was already majoring in chem. she'd been taking a bunch of bio classes as electives because she liked them. one of her prof's took her aside and said "if you take this (class he thought was a waste of time, but was required), you can have a minor in bio". so she did. she didn't have time to do a bio project (she was already a sr)t, or she'd have a double major in chem and bio. . . . . I'd be interested in knowing what the required double major or major/2minor *program* was. I would think he'd get the degree in the single major that was completed, just not the full program degree he was working towards. unless it's that type of school . . .

[soufflegirl]

I never heard of them being required at my university, but they were fairly common. Everyone was required to take 9 credits each of Theology and Philosophy, and you needed only needed 18 credits for a minor in either one. A lot of people just used 3 of their electives to get the minor to throw on their resume.

[Kathryn]

No, I didn't do one and they weren't required. I would have loved to, but I didn't have the money or time to take extra classes. I was a transfer student after getting an AA, so a lot of my AA requirements went towards electives. It would have been wasteful to spend more time and money for a minor I didn't need. My major was all I needed for my grad school programs.

[Amber in SJ]

I had a major, a concentration & two minors. Only one minor was required. I needed 136 credits to graduate and the minor contributed 24 credits to the total.

 

Dh was a ME major. That major took no minors or concentration but required 148 credits to graduate.

 

We both graduated from the same university.

 

Amber in SJ

[Lizzie in Ma]

Yes. I majored in Zoology with a minor in Wildlife Biology.

[Amira]

I minored in Arabic because it wasn't possible to major in it at the time (nor was it practical then). I graduated in three years in International Relations with Near East emphasis, so a lot of my classes counted for both the major and the minor. Dh had the same thing- he got a business minor mostly because almost all those classes were also required for his major. His Arabic minor was just a bonus. :)

 

It was common to have a minor at my university, often in a language since so many spoke a second language. Now that I think about it, my husband had a Spanish minor too.

[Matryoshka]

I had two minors, but it wasn't required, in fact, it was kind of by accident. I started coursework freshman year at the 300/400 level in two foreign languages, and just by taking a class in each most semesters, found I qualified for a minor easily in both by the end of my studies. Sometime junior or senior year I happened to see what the requirements were, and though oh! - I should officially apply for those!

 

ETA: Also most of those language courses counted double for my major, which was International Trade.

[Spryte]

I think it was required. I had a double major, so that replaced the minor.

[history_junkie]

I used my minor to fill up credits. My history major had low credit hour requirements, but I still had to have 128 hours to graduate. A Bible Minor is built into the 128 hours, too. I got a minor in Editing & Publishing and could have easily gotten one in Poli Sci, but I chose to only take the Poli Sci classes I liked and avoided the other two that would have given me the minor.

[catz]

I got a double major and I graduated from a Big 10 tech(science and engineering) program. Honestly, I don't think anyone in the tech program had a minor. A double major for a few, but no minors. You had to go through our college of liberal arts to pursue a minor in something.

[KrissiK]

I was one class short of a minor in chemistry. But I was taking 20 units per semester to graduate when I wanted to and the idea of taking Quantitative Analysis on top of that...... uh ......no! Although I do sometimes think it would have been cool ,to minor in chem.

[Heather in Neverland]

For my secondary teaching degree it was required. We had to be certified in at least two different areas.

[Mom in High Heels]

I had a double major, so I wasn't required a minor. If I'd had only 1 major though, I would have been required a minor.

[Melissa B]

At our local university, interdisciplinary degrees require a double major (or maybe two minors instead.) It makes sense considering the degree title. Film studies (and a few other degrees) are only offered as interdisciplinary degrees.

[Caroline]

I was a materials science major and only needed in math class beyond the required ones to get a minor, so I did that. I was also one class shy of a physics minor and onw class shy of a chemistry minor. My DH dual majored in aerospace and ocean engineering. Because so many courses overlapped, it was not considered a double major. He also has a math minor.

[LucyStoner]

It was not required but without intending to I took all of the classes required for a minor in Art History by using many of the classes to meet the general education requirements. Art History had nothing at all to do with my main course of study, I just liked the classes and the professor who taught most of the classes (an elderly, brilliant and hilarious woman).

[MomatHWTK]

The studies I took required a minor from the school of business. But that was specific to my degree.

[jar7709]

At my college you could combine majors between two complimentary fields for an interdisciplinary major (think biology-chemistry or physics-astronomy or history-politics), and minors were an option but not required. The combined majors usually worked out to more work than one "straight" major but were less work than a true double major, so if you went that route you still had time for a minor if you should so desire. I had a combined major in the sciences and a minor a humanity. Which was awesome.

[Peach]

I had a minor for my B.S. Degrees but it wasn't required. Now we are at a different school. Hubby's in the computer engineering department and with all they require, he doesn't have the time or inclination to add a minor into that. A few departments here do require a minor but those have fewer required total major course hours.

[Jeannie in NJ]

a minor was required at my school. I majored in technical theatre (first bachelors, went back later and got degree in geology). anyway I minored in art just because most of my friends were art majors. I loved the classes and the professors. I was also able to support myself making jewelry out of silver and turquoise in the art dept and selling to tourists at high prices, also made and sold weavings. Other students did pottery and sold that. This was in West Texas, we would often drive to New Mexico and sell our artwork there to tourists. Also all the art professors were really cool and we were always going on field trips to museums.

[Belacqua]

I don't recall minors being required at my school. I do remember that if a student had a double major, she wasn't permitted to add a minor to that. As academic advising put it, "We'd like our undergrads to maintain at least a semblance of sanity."

 

And here is where I admit that I misread the subject as, "Did you have a mirror in college?" and wondered just how bad I looked.

[Erin]

My school recommended endorsements for Ed. majors, rather than minors (more hours) and yeah, we were required to have at least one endorsement or minor...

[DawnM]

Yes, I had a minor. Everyone did when I was there that I knew. It may have been required, I have no idea. I was told to pick one, so I did.

[G5052]

I have two undergraduate degrees from a technical college, and only one required a minor.

[Tita Gidge]

At our local university, interdisciplinary degrees require a double major (or maybe two minors instead.) It makes sense considering the degree title. Film studies (and a few other degrees) are only offered as interdisciplinary degrees.

 

 

My first thought at reading the OP was that the student might be part of an interdisciplinary program.

 

My first undergrad was a double major with a minor. My second undergrad was a major and a double minor. In both cases, my university charged tuition up to 12 credits, but one could register for 18 credits. That gave me 6 "free" credits each semester, and I took advantage of those! That's the only reason I ended up with three minors. They were related to my majors, but not terribly important or necessary. I'm just incredibly cheap and appreciate a great value! B)

 

I didn't hear about the interdisciplinary program until a few years ago when I went back for my PhD. I love the idea of it and wish it had been around when I was a traditional student. That'd have been an even better value LOL.

 

My university didn't require anything. Neither majors or minors were regulated. I don't think it's a bad idea for a school to have rules on these things - in fact, I like it.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Minor in Marketing (intentional) chemistry and german just happened.

[Veritaserum]

My major (linguistics) required a minor in a language-related field (TESOL, Audiology & Speech Language Path, or hmm...I can't remember). But that was unusual. Most majors at that university did not require minors.

 

I was two classes short of a second minor (in math), but I was ready to be done. Now I wish I had gotten it. :)

[MyThreeSons]

 

Amber in SJ

 

 

Amber -- I was born and raised in SJ. In fact, I graduated from SJSU. Any chance you're "in" the same SJ?

[AngieW in Texas]

I had a major in physics and a minor in math, but the minor was automatic because all the courses for a math minor were required for physics majors.

[AndyJoy]

Every degree at my college included an automatic minor in Bible as part of the general education curriculum.

 

A lot of accounting majors got minors in finance because it only added two courses, but I didn't see the point.

 

I don't know of any degrees that required minors.

[unsinkable]

No, they were all over 18.

[Tita Gidge]

 

No, they were all over 18.

 

Or at least that's what they told you ;)

[Chelli]

I majored in secondary history education and minored in Spanish.

 

My minor has helped me get more jobs than my major has!

[Incognito]

I had a minor, but I was also one course short of another minor. I *could* have made that happen, but I didn't feel the need.

[Arcadia]

My alma mater did not require any minors to graduate. The only minors offered for engineering when hubby and I were there was in Law and Business Administration. There are quite a few minors (under 18) on campus though.

[Dahliarw]

Dh and I went to the same university. My major did not require a minor (though I had one anyways). His did. He was a CS major and his department required it because they wanted more well rounded graduates. Dh ended up with a BS in CS with an additional major in mathematics (no idea what the difference between that and a double major is) and a minor in physics. IMO, it's not all that well rounded because they are so similar - a minor in literature or a foreign language or something would be more "well rounded".

[athena1277]

i went to a private Christian college. I don't know of anyone who had a minor. My degree is Secondary Education - Mathematics, which is almost like a double major. I took all but 2 or 3 math classes offered and all the education classes except those for elementary ed majors.

[Jenny in Florida]

I did not have a minor, but my major offered a variety of "areas of emphasis," which meant taking extra classes -- about nine credit hours, I think? -- over and above the regular requirements for the major in order to specialize within the department.

 

I also participated in the departmental honors program, which required six credit hours of honors seminars and a senior thesis.

 

And I don't remember whether the "related field" thing was just required for the degree or whether it was part of the honors program. But, either way, I also had to choose some topic or theme or whatever that was outside my regular department but in some way related to it and complete a sequence of at least three courses (another nine hours) there.

 

So, when all was said and done, my major was English, with an area of emphasis in creative writing and several courses in the related field of journalism.

 

My daughter graduated with a major in theatre, directing and acting, and a minor in music. She was on track to minor specifically in vocal performance, but that required a recital, and she just didn't want to go through that process.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

No, they were all over 18.

:coolgleamA:

[VeritasMama]

My husband has a BS in Chemical Engineering and a minor in math. It was only one additional class to obtain his minor, so he did it, it wasn't a requirement, though he did need a concentration. I believe his concentration was in Chemistry. He also has a MS in Chemical engineering, I'm not sure if his math minor has any real value, but it didn't cost him anything.

 

I have a minor in Special Education, along with BS in Elem Ed. I have a concentration in both Humanities and English, I just happened to have the credits for both as I had switched majors. I got the minor because I was already taking Special Ed credits as electives, and my plan was to go back later and get a Masters in Special Ed. I started homeschooling instead :). It didn't take me any extra time to get the minor.

[happypamama]

I got a minor in history. In my case, it was very easy to get that minor, because my major was medieval studies, which is an interdisciplinary major comprised of classes in art history, literature, history, religious studies, and philosophy. Most of my classes for my major were in history anyway (with the required few from the other areas; we just had to select 10 classes from three of those five areas, including two required introductory-level classes and a certain number of 400 or 500 level classes), and for a history minor, it was only six classes, two at the 400 or 500 level. So simply because of my interest in history over art or literature, I had the required six classes for the minor just by completing my major, so it was easy. Plus I had six credits of US history that I took at a different college while I was in high school, and those also transferred.

 

I graduated a year early, though, so I was doing all of my major work (plus language requirements and everything) in six semesters. Had I stayed another year, I could have gotten a minor in Italian, English (again, I had transfer credits, so it probably would have meant just two 400-level classes), and/or child development (I took some classes in that, including independent study working in the on-campus preschool/daycare). But there are only so many hours in the day, and I was also working every semester, writing my senior honors thesis during my last two semesters, and planning a wedding (long distance) during my last semester, so I didn't cram my schedule with non-essential classes. (And anyway, my first job out of college landed me a position as a nicely-paid private nanny, so the lack of an official major or minor in child development didn't hurt me a bit.)

 

I think in liberal arts majors, minors are common, but they weren't required.